Escalating confrontations in Jerusalem centred on the al-Aqsa Mosque, 1500 more homes to be built in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and a sharp deterioration in Israel’s relations with Jordan have…

In the near three decades that I have been involved with Gaza and her people, I have never seen the kind of physical and psychological destruction that I see there today. In all Gaza’s long and tormented…

When, in armed conflict, civilians are killed on a large scale, when schools are attacked and children are orphaned, charges of genocide are often not far behind. In discussions about Operation Protective…

Investigations of the death and destruction wrought upon Gaza’s civilian neighbourhoods must be independent of the warring Israeli and Palestinian forces.
EPA/Mohammed SaberOctober 1 2014

With the August 26 ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian forces holding, both sides have resumed their relentless pursuit of political advantage. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Palestine…

There will always be plenty of young people willing to serve in the IDF.
EPA/Atef SafadiSeptember 15 2014

In 1988, I was in Kathmandu in Nepal when I found out that war was raging in the occupied territories; it would soon become known as “the intifada”. And when, in a small corner shop I spotted in one of…

How to report impartially in the face of horrors like Gaza?
EPASeptember 1 2014

While an open-ended ceasefire agreement is currently holding between Israel and the Palestinian factions, it is clear that the rule of international law has failed in Gaza. The international community…

Cult of Moloch - not in same league as Hamas.
Charles Foster via Wikimedia CommonsAugust 20 2014

From debates concerning the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to the 1967 Six Day War’s titular reference to the days of creation, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has often been made to resonate with biblical…

One of the casualties of Israel’s Hannibal Protocol in Rafah, August 1.
EPA/StringerAugust 18 2014

While Israel and Hamas are still looking for ways to end their Gaza war, the UN Human Rights Council appointed a three-member panel to investigate allegations that humanitarian law was violated in the…

With a tenuous five-day ceasefire now underway, the pause in the Gaza War allows each side to consider its position. The Israeli Embassy in London reported on August 11 that: All known tunnels, 32 in total…

Two cancelled shows at the Edinburgh fringe, a theatre in London refusing to host a film festival while it was partly funded by the Israeli Embassy and now, on the other side of the spectrum, Belfast City…

The New Atheists are once again provoking controversy, this time with their comments on Gaza which has prompted divisions among those better known for presenting a united front against religion. Over the…

More than 140,000 people have signed a petition condemning the Guardian for running an advertisement that accuses Palestinian leaders of “child sacrifice”. There is outrage but also surprise: how can a…

The United Nations Security Council’s primary responsibility is maintaining international peace and security – a task aided by the veto power.
Francois Proulx/FlickrAugust 12 2014

Recent events in Gaza and Ukraine and the ongoing gridlock in Syria have dominated newspapers and airwaves – and debate in the United Nations Security Council. Despite UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon…

With the Palestinian peace camp among the casualties of the bombardment of Gaza, what does Israel expect to emerge from the ruins?
AAP/Newzulu/Eloise BollackAugust 11 2014

If we apply Karl Marx’s dictum that “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce”, then the Gaza Strip is one of the longest-running tragicomic productions in the world today. It is not hard…

Injured child in Gaza before last week’s ceasefire: Israel is a State Party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
EPA/StringerAugust 11 2014

Amidst the cycle of fighting and ceasefire between the Israeli military and Hamas the safety of children remains severely threatened. Young Israelis are vulnerable to the trauma of frequent air raids that…

Anti-Semitism never takes long to surface, ranging from the desecration of Jewish graves and memory to violent attacks on people.
AAP/NZN/Alastair BullAugust 11 2014

The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has triggered a dramatic rise in global anti-Semitism. This has significantly undermined the collective well-being of the Jewish people. While the intensity of anti-Semitism…

Celebrity humanitarians have had a profound impact upon the practice of international political communication. New forms of political participation have emerged as celebrity activists have reconfigured…

In the 1982 Lebanon war I served as an Israeli artillery forward observer, my task to pinpoint the PLO’s positions and call in fire from our artillery units. We stayed in the evacuated Al Jamous School…

The continuing slaughter of women and children in Gaza is a painful reminder of the inadequacy of international institutions and our collective inability to impose order, let alone justice, in the world…

Israel advocacy campaigns, seen recently in the context of the conflict in Gaza, are typically fought in Australia on two fronts: Jewish community mobilisation and media engagement.
AAP/Nikki ShortAugust 5 2014

Jewish communal and Zionist organisations in Australia have taken the unusual step of staging mock air-raid sirens to show solidarity with Israel amid its ongoing conflict with Hamas and to build support…